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CORNU CO´PIAE

CORNU CO´PIAE or as one word,
CORNUCO´PIAE, later CORNUCOPIA (Amm. Marc. 22.9.1; 25.2.3), the horn of fruitfulness and abundance, used as the
symbol of plenty. (Plaut. Pseud. 2.3, 5; Gel. 14.6, 2; Hor. Carm. 1, 17, 13-16;
Carm. Saec. 60; Ep. 1.12, 29; Ov. Met. 9.88) In mythology there are two
different tales explaining the origin of this horn. One traces it to the
horn of the goat Amaltheia, which suckled Zeus. The horn was broken off and
filled with fruits and flowers, and was afterwards placed by Zeus together
with the goat among the stars. (For references, see Dict. of
Biogr., art. AMALTHEIA.) Another legend
relates that it was the horn of the river--god Achelous, which was wrenched
off by Hercules, and which became forth--with a horn of plenty (Dict.
of Biogr., art. ACHELOUS). Later
mythologists combined the two tales, and tried to explain how the horn of
Amaltheia became the horn of Achelous (Apollod.
2.7.5). The origin of this symbol may perhaps be traced in the
use of the horns of oxen or goats as drinking--cups; hence the ῥυτόν, or drinking-horn, which is frequently
confounded

Fortuna holding cornucopia. (Bronze in the British Museum.)

with the horn of abundance. (Athen. xi. pp. 468 d, 497 c.)

The cornucopia constantly appears in works of art, especially of the Roman
period, as the [p. 1.545]symbol of abundance. It is
associated with various divinities, as in the preceding statue of the
goddess Fortuna. It appears on the Greek coins of the Ptolemies, kings of
Egypt. The accompanying specimen is a coin of Arsinoë, daughter of
Ptolemy I., the reverse of which contains a double cornucopia filled with
various fruits. (Cf. Athen. 11.
497 c.) On